


Fire and Lightning

by whytekatt



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whytekatt/pseuds/whytekatt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A heartwarming tale about two team outcasts finding friendship in one of the more unusual ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire and Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> There used to be prequels to this, but I've lost them.
> 
> More old stuff from TF2chan.

To say he hated the rain would have almost been the wrong words. In all honesty, Scout didn't much mind it – unless it was storming. Sure, there were the fair share of storms where he was from, even some that were really bad, but he'd never really liked them then. And not to mention that he'd been away from home for a good while. At least there, when it stormed, it did so for days and he could quickly get used to it. Here, when it rained, it poured ... and it was never for anything longer than a few hours. Maybe it was the heat that made it feel so much more different than home. That, and the irregularity of the event. It was always enough to put him on edge. And today was one of those days.

He was stuck, antsy and a little more wired than usual. Most blamed the extra electricity in the air for stirring up the youngest member of the team, and truthfully, Scout had to agree. When this happened, he typically locked himself in his room and stared out the window. He didn't like it. Not one bit. He was supposed to be chaos and as he watched the sporadic bolts and flashes of light dance about the sky, he was only once again reminded that he was next to nothing in this world. A feeling he had gotten over when he left home – left his mom, his brothers, everything. Why God had the need to remind him of this simple thing was beyond him, but he couldn't much take it anymore. With a glance at the clock – it was about seven in the evening – he gave up his hiding and slipped from his room. If nothing else, everyone would be stowed away and he'd have the whole fort to wander without being bothered. A pure wish, but undoubtedly he knew he was bound to run into someone. One couldn't blame him for dreaming though.

He hadn't made it far down the hall before he heard a pair of footsteps. They weren't quite following him, but they were close. A bit heavy, but that didn't mean anything – especially since his run in with RED Spy. If the weather wasn't already making him jittery, that thought was. He gave an involuntary shiver, reaching behind him to grab his bat from his bag, crouching a bit as he stopped, pressing himself against the wall and backing up towards the sounds of the footsteps. Like hell he was going to be caught off guard like that again. Like HELL. Once he was at the corner, he stood completely still, his bat raised at the ready, leaning towards the sound. He couldn't quite make out who's steps they could have been – but he blamed the sounds of the thunder and the heavy drops for that … mostly. With a deep breath, Scout did his best to calm his nerves, a quick plan formulating in his mind before he counted to three and jumped out, ready to swing if the moment called for it.

“Mmrr mmrr mmrr!”

The sight before him might have been Pyro, but he wasn't taking any chances – not since he knew Spy could so fricken easily sneak into their base. The other continued to flail his arms a bit before reaching to pull the gas mask from his face.

“Whoa, kid. Relax! It's just me.” Outside of his assailant, Pyro was the only one who knew about his incident a few days back. Or, at least, he was the only one who Scout had told. Since then, Scout had been avoiding Engineer, not quite sure what to say to him after the RED man's claims.

He lowered his bat. “Sorry.” But Pyro just shook his head.

“Nah, I understand.” And there it was, the thing that made the youngest member of the team feel like he actually was worth something. It was those piercing green eyes, that when they held that little gleam of sincerity, it seemed as if he was the only person who mattered in the world. But how he would ever tell him – no, if he would ever tell him – would be something entirely different. He rather enjoyed the slightly elder male's company. In all honesty, he was afraid if he said something, that might change.

A half-grin tugged at the corners of Scout's mouth before it was quickly removed by a loud crash of thunder that sounded as if it were just outside the hallway. He couldn't help but jump, a whimper releasing itself from his throat as his eyes immediately began to look around them, as if the thunder were a tangible object that he could beat with the bat still clutched in his grip.

Pyro was quick to notice how more-so-than-usually edgy the younger male was, taking the opportunity to save himself a pained whack to the head if the other were to jump a little more violently, gripping the bat and pulling it from the other's grip. “You seriously need to lay off the caffeine.” His tone was smug and taunting as he ran his free hand through his messy blond hair.

Having the bat pulled from his hands sorta threw off the young Scout, putting him in a sort of stupor as he looked from his hands to Pyro. He hadn't been expecting that, but he was thankful for it. It had somewhat snapped him out of his tense spell and he was able to relax a bit once again. He could have easily said that he hadn't had any caffeine today, but whether or not that was believable would have been the next issue. And it wasn't really an issue he wanted to get into a the moment. It didn't really matter if he'd consumed anything. He was up, walking and talking. And even that was a bit much for some of the others when they weren't in combat – or even when they were.

He gave a slight sigh, opening his mouth to say something before once again he was cut off by a rumble of thunder that sent more waves of tensity through his body. “C'mon. We're gonna get your mind off of the storm and whatever else is running through there.” Before Scout even had time to respond, Pyro had his arm wrapped around him and was dragging him down the hall towards his room. Quite the sight for anyone who might have been on-looking, though the chances of that were increasingly slim to none.

He didn't really know what it was that made him feel so comfortable around Pyro. He knew he sure as hell didn't like being on the receiving end of his flame-thrower and the fact that both him and the RED Pyro wielded the thing like it was some sort of toy actually made him a little anxious. Prior to this week, he really hadn't paid the man much mind – not that he had really ever gone out of his way to avoid him, but he didn't really go out of his way to talk to him either. Of course, now that he knew better, he saw that the elder male wasn't much different from himself – at least in the social department. Maybe that was it. Pyro treated him like a person rather than a nuisance just as he took the time to treat Pyro as something more than a fire-wielding maniac. The blond had said himself that outside of Medic, he was the only one to see him unmasked; an oddly comforting thought. That fact made him feel special – unique – important. It was his own way of being able to tell if the man dragging him down the hall was a Spy or not. He smiled. With any amount of luck, that Snake Bastard would never be able to completely taint this man. He may be able to cloak as him, even steal his face, but he'd never be able to replicate the feeling in those green eyes.

Before he was even aware that they'd stopped, he'd been dragged into Pyro's room and was now sitting in a raggedy yet plush chair that occupied a decent amount of space near the foot of the bed. Pyro was sitting next to him, staring, as if waiting for him to say something, like he knew Scout was away in his mind somewhere. “So … uh, what's the game plan?” Pyro only shrugged, not having of thought out the plan so far. It didn't matter. “Do … you have any games?” That seemed to spark something in the blond's mind and in a split second, he was on his feet, moving towards the small closet set off in the corner of the room. After a good few moments of rustling and Scout attempting to see what Pyro was looking for, the blond turned, a wide smile on his face and a checkers set in his hands.

“I know it's not in the best condition or the greatest game in the world, but you'd be amazed at how much something so simple can get your mind off of even the worst of situations.”

While he wanted to believe Pyro, Scout wasn't so sure that checkers of all things would cleanse his mind of the storm and passed events. But then again, he wasn't one to just sit and dwell either, especially as another rather loud clap of thunder made him squeak and his bones rattle in his skin.

The first game ended rather quickly with Pyro more than dominating the younger male as his final piece was surrounded by four or five Kings. Maybe more. Scout wasn't counting. “Pure luck!” was Scout's retort to the event, having to hold himself back from making a huge scene with either a large pout … or over-turning the board. “AGAIN!”

Though, it didn't matter how many games they played, Scout continued to lose and was very quickly becoming frustrated and bored with his streak of bad luck. He idly picked at his last piece that Pyro hadn't quite removed from the board yet, pouting and not saying a word. “I have cards.” The younger male perked up a bit. Out of all the years at home, his brothers had taught him a thing or two about cards and the different games to play.

“I have the perfect game!”

Pyro just looked at him for a moment, almost as if he were wondering if this really was a good idea, but deciding it better to play Scout's way than to watch him pout, he stood, gathering up the checkers set and returning to the closet. He chunked the deck over his shoulder, listening as Scout caught it easily and began to shuffle them. “What're we playing?”

“Egyptian Rat Screw.”

The elder male raised a brow, not sure if he heard the other right. “Egyptian … rat screw?”

“Yeah! It's basically like War, only you're only lookin' out for face cards, doubles and sandwiches.”

Leave it to Scout to play a game that involved 'sandwiches'.

After a quick explanation of the rules, the deck was halved and the game started. Pyro was a little timid at first, not quite catching on and staring at Scout as his hand came slamming down several times before he had even had a chance to see there was a double or a sandwich before him. However, this didn't keep for long and before either knew it, they were roaring with laughter, fighting over large piles that contained long strains of face cards and who's hand came down first.

As time passed, neither realized it was well passed eleven, nearing midnight and the storms had long since passed. They were enjoying the company more than anything, neither one really having such a good time before and hoping there would be more to come later. Pyro had finally found himself someone he could be completely normal around and not feel shunned and Scout didn't feel like a nuisance. And as the night drew on, so did the game, only ending when neither boy could keep their eyes open or move to take the cards from the pile they slapped.

It was Medic who found them, slumped over the card table, Scout's hand on a pile of cards and Pyro's on top of Scout's. Both were sound asleep with cards stuck to their cheeks and a wide grin on their face. If it were any other morning, or a matter of life or death, the German would have woken them up immediately. However, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Both looked so content and he just had this feeling that their night had only ended a few hours before he wandered in there. If they were going to be any use on the field, they would need their rest, but with the way the war was going, he was almost positive that the day would be rather slow. Besides, the storms were usually a prequel to a strong heat wave that would have them all sluggish for days to come.

Medic stepped back out of the room, shutting the door behind him, a smug grin on his face. “To be young.” There was a bit of a bounce to his step as he made his way down to the clinic.

Pyro's eyes opened only slightly as he heard the door click shut. He wasn't a heavy sleeper at all no thanks to the recent visits from Spy. But it had only been Medic. No need to alert Scout, or even move. Instead, he just closed his eyes again, the smile on his face growing ever so much in contentment as his hand gripped the younger male's a little tighter, sleep over-taking him once again as he listened to the slow, light breathing coming from across the table.

“Thank you … ”


End file.
